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This Is Biology : The Science of the Living World by Ernst Mayr (1997, Hardcover)

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About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherHarvard University Press

ISBN-10067488468X

ISBN-139780674884687

eBay Product ID (ePID)19038642103

Product Key Features

Book TitleThis Is Biology : the Science of the Living World

Number of Pages352 Pages

LanguageEnglish

Publication Year1997

TopicPhilosophy & Social Aspects, History, Life Sciences / Biology

IllustratorYes

GenreScience

AuthorErnst Mayr

FormatHardcover

Dimensions

Item Weight22.1 Oz

Item Length9.2 in

Item Width6.1 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceTrade

LCCN96-042192

Dewey Edition21

ReviewsIn this deeply thought-provoking book, [Mayr] records his thoughts about the philosophical underpinnings of his beloved field of biology and muses about some of the changes he sees coming as his colleagues delve more deeply into both the molecular basis of life and the complex web of interacting agents that make up the global ecosystem...[I]n the last few chapters, Mayr moves to a more speculative mode and addresses himself to questions such as the place that humanity has in the grand evolutionary scheme, and the question of whether there is a sense in which human ethical systems can be accounted for by evolution...I wouldn't dream of spoiling your fun by trying to summarize Mayr's complex and well-thought-out views on these [questions]...The book covers so many topics that there is something here for everyone., [A] lovely book...[It] is a long essay on how biologists study living things on the large scale of organisms and their families. Its range is enormous...This is an old-fashioned book, to be read slowly, more than once, and to be thought about afterward. Isn't that what books are for--so that people can, at their leisure, consider the hard-learned thoughts of a beautifully educated, smart old man?, In this wide-ranging book, Ernst Mayr, one of the doyens of evolutionary biology, raises many important questions about the nature of biological research. He examines them in a scholarly yet approachable way...This is a book designed to make one think...Mayr raises the fascinating question of how we humans have been able to change our society so remarkably in the past thousands of years--occupying many niches of climate and geography--without much change in our gene pool. It is just one of the many unanswered questions that course through his fertile brain and have found an outlet in this volume., [Mayr's] summary of the early history of evolution is excellent, particularly of Darwin's monumental contribution. His analysis of the concept of speciation, a key feature of evolution, is excellent and he has contributed much to this area...The most interesting chapter raises questions about the relationship between ethics and evolution., Mayr, emeritus professor of zoology at Harvard and a major contributor to contemporary evolutionary understanding, manages to condense the involved history of biological thought into this treatise., This Is Biology is an excellent attempt on Mayr's part to bring biology to a common focus and to help define what characteristics distinguish living systems from inanimate matter. This is an extremely well-thought-out and eminently scholarly work. It will be of significant value to those who wish to understand the philosophical underpinnings of biology, how biological questions are addressed, how the various subdisciplines came into existence, and how they are related. It is also a very personal work due, in no small part, to Mayr's own seminal contributions over the years to several biological topics., As would be expected from Mayr, the text achieves considerable richness and depth. Academic readers will appreciate a sophisticated level of cross-disciplinary analysis, and all readers will enjoy a lucid style of presentation...This is Biology is yet another illustration of one of Mayr's most celebrated talents: his power to transform a vast amount of complex knowledge into its engaging and illuminating essence. As a product, the science of biology is left in clear perspective and is liberated from many stereotypical attributes that are traditionally associated with science as a whole. Practising professionals and students alike should benefit immeasurably from reading this book., We are fortunate that one of the great evolutionary biologists of the 20th century has taken the time to set down his reflections on biology as he has seen it develop for the last three-quarters of a century. Mayr is not afraid to tackle the difficult issues of a definition of life, a description of the modern theory of evolution, punctuated equilibrium, ontologic recapitulation, sociobiology, cladistics, and the descent of man, to name a few...This is an erudite, carefully reasoned account of what a naturalist considers to constitute biology penned by one of the great evolutionary biologists of the century. It is well worth a read., He is acknowledged to be one of the great zoologists of the 20th century. His contributions to evolutionary biology have been recognised by a dazzling collection of the world's most prestigious scientific awards...Now 92, Ernst Mayr has written a wide-ranging review of biological thought and progress. In part, This Is Biology is a study of the philosophy of biology, and in part a history of selected branches of the subject...This is a magisterial account of biology, by a great biologist., Ernst Mayr, the world's greatest living evolutionary biologist and a writer of extraordinary insight and clarity, gives us, in the tenth decade of his own rich life, his distillation of a full career spent in thought and study of his favorite subject.

Dewey Decimal574

Table Of ContentGuide to Topics Covered Preface What Is the Meaning of Life? What Is Science? How Does Science Explain the Natural World? How Does Biology Explain the Living World? Does Science Advance? How Are the Life Sciences Structured? "What?" Questions: The Study of Biodiversity "How?" Questions: The Making of a New Individual "Why?" Questions: The Evolution of Organisms What Questions Does Ecology Ask? Where Do Humans Fit into Evolution? Can Evolution Account for Ethics? Notes Bibliography Glossary Guide to Topics Covered Acknowledgments Index

SynopsisThe author argues that the physical sciences cannot address many aspects of nature and that living organisms must be understood at every level of organization. He attempts to map out the territorial overlap between biology and the humanities, especially history and ethics.

LC Classification NumberQH307.2.M39 1997